Weekly round-up and Hyde Lea Bank

Didn’t get much time to go out much on my bike this week: mostly due to going to London/Ely on Tuesday/Wednesday and feeling rather tired on Saturday after going to Wembley to see the terminally dull U2. However, I did manage to do 3.2 miles to the station and back and some roller work…..

Some roller work I say…well 4 miles on Thursday, six miles on Friday and six miles yesterday (Saturday). I am finding it easier to balance and do feel that I get a good work out when using them, getting up to an average of 10.5mph. However, they are different from cycling on the road as you don’t get any rests from freewheeling and without a breeze blowing by you, it gets hot very quickly! Anyway, my total for the months on my rollers now is:

Done 21miles: to do 19 miles.

I guess that roller distances need to be multiplied by 1.8 meaning a six mile ride is worth about 10 miles on the road….. Well, that’s based on average speed over an hour.

I did manage to get out on the road this morning, despite not sleeping very well and I am glad I did as I CLIMBED HYDE LEA BANK without stopping!!!! Yes, yes, I know its only 120 foot or so with an average of around 4% but its still an epic climb in my book and something I have never managed before!

Well, full of happiness from doing that I went further than I planned and ended up on the outskirts of Wolverhampton (well, about a mile north of there) after heading along some scenic back roads: including one called Straight Mile which is… straight (not sure if it’s a mile long however). I did add a loop along the Old Stafford Road as I fancied the climb and headed on a road I had never been on before, before heading back to Penkridge on the back road… enjoyable if a little lumpy.

Now the last five miles back gives you a choice of three routes: I chose the middle difficult one to Acton. Well…. I could have overtaken another bike if I had wanted to as I caught a bloke on a hybrid quite quickly. Why didn’t I over take him? Well it was clear to me he was not making any effort as he was doing a lot of stretches as he peddled along in his lowest gear at 15mph (I was in my highest!!!). One day eh…one day!

Well the ride overall was 29.24 miles with a total of 782 foot of climbing. My average speed was better than recently at 11.7mph with a top speed of 55mph…… I doubt think so somehow!

http://www.bikehike.co.uk/mapview.php?id=16003
　
Totals for the month then:

Done 117.60. To do: 132.40 (better get my finger out!)